Moments in Time
by CommChatter
Summary: Various occurances in the Skywalker family's time on Ansion. Companion to Change of Destiny.
1. Mr Mom

**Disclaimer: Not George Lucas. I only own Grace Skywalker.**

**Inspired by the song Mr. Mom by Lonestar and dedicated to my Dad in honor of his 51****st**** birthday. And all dads everywhere brave enough to take care of the kids for a day… **

STAR WARS

Anakin Skywalker loved his children. He really did, but after a day of being with the four of them (between the ages of six to six months) he was ready to turn to the Dark Side.

It had started innocently enough. Padmé had made plans with her friends to go to the city for a girls' day out. She had told Anakin that it would only be for a few hours and the kids wouldn't be that much trouble and, Anakin being Anakin, he hadn't been able to refuse.

He was seriously starting to doubt his sanity.

"Daddy! Jinn pulled my hair!" Leia's screech could clearly be heard down the hallway from the room that the six year-old twins and four year-old Jinn had disappeared into.

"Dad! Leia threw my speeder!" Jinn's shout came only a second after.

Anakin sighed and looked down at Grace, who, at six months old, was just starting to sit up. "They never stop," he confided.  
Grace answered him with an open mouthed grin that revealed two sets of teeth just starting to come in. Her brown eyes, so similar to her mother's sparkled with some hidden amusement that only she knew and tufts of blonde hair stuck up in every direction, having defied all of Padmé's attempts at taming.

"Artoo, keep an eye on Grace, please." The astromech bleeped a reply that sounded vaguely like 'not in my programming' but Anakin was already on his feet and down the hall, where sounds of a scuffle could be heard in the twins' room.

Poking his head in the door, Anakin saw Luke first, sitting off to the side, surrounded by several toy starfighters and a landspeeder with working repulsors, studiously ignoring his twin and younger brother.

No one could say that Leia allowed her brothers to figuratively (or literally) walk over her. She exacted vengeance as only a six year-old girl could. Leia had Jinn pinned to the ground and was sitting on his back, with his hands pinned under her knees.

"Leia," Anakin sighed, causing her to jump and scramble to her feet. Jinn, who had been surprisingly quiet during the whole confrontation, shot to his feet and darted over to hide behind Anakin's legs. "What have we told you about sitting on your brothers?"

"You told me that I shouldn't." Leia stared down at her hands, doing a fairly good impression of looking suitably chastised. Her sense in the Force, however, was clearly unrepentant.

Anakin crossed his arms over his chest. "And why is that?" he asked, going into full 'dad mode', causing Luke to look up from the speeder that he had just disassembled.

"'Cause it's not nice." Leia looked up at Anakin, brown eyes wide. "But Jinn pulled my hair."

Anakin caught ahold of his younger son's shoulder and steered him around to stand next to his older sister. Kneeling down to their level, Anakin said, "Tell me what happened."

They spoke at the same time. "Leia took my speeder-"

"Jinn pulled my hair-"

Oh, boy. "One at a time, please," Anakin looked at Jinn. "You first,"

"Leia threw my starfighter," Jinn pointed at the yellow, wedge-shaped starfighter against the wall on the opposite side of the room.

Anakin released his growing annoyance to the Force. "So why did you pull Leia's hair?"

Tears brimmed in Jinn's blue eyes. "It broke!" he whimpered, darting into his father's arms and burying his face in Anakin's shoulder.

"Easy, Jinn," Anakin said, sitting down hard as his son threw him off balance. "Can you bring it over? Maybe we could fix it."

Jinn pulled back, sniffing. "Really?"

Anakin smiled, relieved that he had headed off the inevitable sobfest that would have ensued. For whatever reason, if one of them cried, the other two would start as well. The three of them were linked through the Force by a bond, and, while none of them were able to actively use the Force (yet), they were still able to sense the others' feelings. They were also able to communicate quite effectively mentally without speaking, something that told Anakin just how strong in the Force all three of them were.

While Jinn went to retrieve his starfighter, Anakin turned to Leia. "Why did you throw Jinn's starfighter?"

Leia looked over at Luke. Her twin was watching her expectantly, blue eyes not in the least sympathetic. Finding no help there, she looked back at Anakin. "He wouldn't listen to me."

Anakin came _this close _to laughing. He quickly hid his amusement, but Leia, like Padmé, had always been able to tell when someone was laughing at her, and the scowl that she directed at him now told Anakin that she knew he was laughing at her. "Leia, he's four-" _and a Skywalker_. "Sometimes he doesn't listen."

"I listen!" Jinn protested. He was clutching the starfighter and the two broken wings as he joined Anakin and Leia by the door.

"Only when you want to." Luke put in, standing up and examining Jinn's starfighter.

Anakin looked at his oldest son. "And you don't?"

Luke shrugged. "When I want to."

This time, Anakin did laugh. An urgent warble from Artoo echoed down the hall, followed by a wail from Grace. _Stang._ Anakin thought, getting up.

Leia frowned at him. "Mommy says you shouldn't say things like that."

"I didn't say anything," Anakin said, confused. Surely he hadn't said that aloud? Padmé would be very, very… annoyed if she heard about this.

The trio before him exchanged glances. Jinn was elected to speak. "You _thought_ it Dad."

Anakin stared at them, surprised. "You heard that?"

"We hear what Mom thinks too." Leia said.

That was…enlightening. Tightening his mental shields, Anakin herded the group out the door and down the hall. "Let's see what Grace and Artoo are up to, shall we?"

Luke, who had elected himself as Grace's protector, darted down the hallway and picked Grace up. She stopped crying almost immediately and reached for Luke's hair. "No, Grace." Luke ducked her hand and sniffed. "Uh oh. Dad, Grace stinks." Artoo gave an electronic snigger.

Anakin set Jinn's starfighter on the table. "So change her."

"Dad." Luke carried Grace over to him. "Mom doesn't want us to."

"You tried to change her?"

"Well, no. Mom thought she didn't want us to change Grace."

Thoughts weren't safe anymore, it would seem. Anakin would have to warn Padmé before any unwanted questions arose. Especially when the twins started school next year. Taking Grace, Anakin carried her over to the changing table.

The stink that assaulted him was unbearable. Breathing through his mouth, he peeled the shirt off her. "Really Grace?" Anakin asked, mock sternly.

Grace giggled and wiggled, trying to grab his fingers. Leia appeared beside him, clutching a dress and a new diaper. "You're going to need these." She informed Anakin, depositing the things next to him. She scrunched her nose at the smell. "I didn't think something so small could smell so bad," Leia commented, pinching her nose and backing away.

Anakin wished he could back away also. The mess Grace had made in her diaper hadn't been contained, and had oozed out the sides and down her legs. Sighing, Anakin shook his head at her. "I'd have expected this from the boys Grace, not you." Grace smiled at him.

"Dad! We don't wear diapers anymore!" Jinn protested, looking up from the toy that he and Luke were trying to reassemble.

Anakin caught a flash of disapproval through the Force from Luke, who was attempting to reattach a piece of the starfighter's wing.

"Is that really necessary, Dad?" Leia asked, raising one eyebrow at Anakin, her resemblance to her mother uncanny as she glared at him.

"Probably not," Anakin said, dumping the reeking diaper in the trash disposal and picking up the dress. Anakin frowned.

Seeming to sense his sudden confusion, Leia stepped up next to him and took it. "You put it on like _this _Daddy." She said, turning the dress so that the buttons were on the back and slipped it over Grace's head before deftly buttoning the buttons.

"How did-" Anakin started, but Leia turned to look at him.

"Do you think I'd let Threepio dress Grace?"

Oh. That would explain it. There was a _ping_ from behind them and a half-sphere of metal hit Anakin in the back of the head. _Ow. _

Setting Grace carefully back down on the blanket among her toys, Anakin turned to face the boys, both of whom were staring at Anakin, horrified expressions on their faces. He picked up the offending piece of metal before turning back to Luke and Jinn.

Leia sat down in front of Grace and played with her, watching Anakin.

"I don't think this was supposed to come off, was it?" Anakin asked, moving over to the table that the boys were seated at and depositing what appeared to be the astromech unit's domed head on the table next to the dismantled fighter.

"Sorry, Dad," Jinn mumbled, fingering one of the wings.

Anakin snuck a quick glance at the chrono. An hour until dinner. Four until bedtime. Six until Padmé came home. It had been a long day and he desperately wanted some time to himself. "Don't get too upset, Jinn. Accidents happen."

Both boys brightened at that and became more animated, showing Anakin what they already had reassembled- all the parts in the correct places too, Anakin noted.

Taking the wings, Anakin examined the break. "Artoo? Could you weld this back together?"

Rolling forward, the astromech twittered a reply. One of the hatches on his side opened and an arc welding appendage extended out. When he was done, there was hardly any visible damage, minus the weld lines.

STAR WARS

"Dad, when's Mom coming home?"

Anakin shifted Grace in his arms as she drooped, eyelids falling half-closed. "In about another two hours Jinn." Anakin said, carrying her into the living room.

Luke, Leia and Jinn followed after him. "Daddy, can we watch a holovid?" Jinn darted across the room to the stack of shelves, quickly followed by the twins as they went through the holographic holovid cases.

Anakin collapsed into his chair and rubbed a hand over his face as Luke and Jinn argued quietly over a holo. They settled on a vid featuring talking speeders and the three of them climbed up onto Anakin's lap as the opening sounded.

STAR WARS

When Padmé entered the house, it was ominously silent, much too quiet for Anakin Skywalker and his four children to be there.

The lights were out in all the rooms, but she heard music playing softly from the living room and set the bags that she had down on the table, noting all the dirty dishes spread out on the counter, and poked her head into the other room.

What she saw made her heart swell with love. They were all sleeping, Anakin was sprawled across the couch, Grace was lying on his chest, Jinn held in his left arm, Leia in his right, with Luke pressed against his twin, one arm around her shoulder. A smile spread slowly across her face as Padmé watched her family. They all looked so peaceful right now.

She only wished it could stay this way forever.

STAR WARS

**This is actually for the one month anniversary of my Dad's birthday. It's my tribute to my parents for dealing with all the crap teenagers can generate. I'm sure there's a lot of other people out there who can relate.**

**Let me know what you think!**

**-CommChatter **


	2. Lightsabers

** Padmé's thoughts on her children's being given lightsabers.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Grace Skywalker**

STAR WARS

Padmé stood at the top of the stairs, staring down at the tiny dojo and its occupants. Luke, Jinn, and Leia stood around Anakin in a semi-circle. This was it. Her babies were going to learn to fight, to kill.

They were too young, Padmé thought, and she had argued against their being trained. Anakin had won when he reminded her that they were living on borrowed time, and the Skywalker family would eventually be pulled back into galactic affairs. The children would have to learn to fight at some point. It was best that they be prepared when they needed to be.

Grace was asleep in her room, and even though Anakin had suggested Padmé sit this out, she felt herself drawn to the basement. Watching the group down the stairs, she couldn't help but smile at the slightly awed look on Luke's face as Anakin handed each of the trio a training lightsaber.

"Can I turn it on?" Leia asked loudly. Anakin's reply was lost as Luke and Jinn eagerly repeated the question, but it must have been the affirmative, because first Leia's, then Luke's and Jinn's training sabers ignited with a familiar snap-hiss, silver blades appeared in their hands. Anakin had told Padmé that the lightsabers were actually shotos, whatever those were, and that when the kids built their own, they'd be about two feet longer than the training blades that Anakin had built for them.

"Wow." Jinn turned and smiled at Padmé. "Look Mom!" He waved his lightsaber over his head, grinning broadly, reminding her of another blond little boy from a lifetime ago.

"Careful Jinn!" Anakin brought the group's attention back to him. "Can you turn them off for a minute?" There was a chorus of groans, but the kids complied. "These lightsabers can't hurt you like mine can, but they can still burn you. You need to be careful not to burn each other with them."

Anakin continued with his instructions of what they could and could not do with their lightsabers, but Padmé tuned him out, watching her children instead. They were all listening to him with rapt attention, absorbing everything that was being said.

She was proud, but regretful. Her children were being prepared for war, though they didn't know it yet. They were going to learn to fight, and were going to be expected to lead the charge against the Empire by those people who would remember the Jedi by the time they joined the resistance movement that was being formed.

And Padmé was proud of them.

STAR WARS

**What did you think? Did you like it? Let me know what you think!**

**-CommChatter**


	3. War Story

**I only own Grace Skywalker, Star Wars belongs to Disney**

Crazy, I'm not sure if this is what you had in mind, but here's what I got.

STAR WARS

Grace was six when she realized Anakin's right arm was a prosthetic. She was a remarkably observant child, Anakin realized, and not much could escape her notice.

She was sick, and Anakin had offered to stay at home with her while Padmé had taken the twins and Jinn to their community's small playground. About half an hour after the other Skywalkers left, Grace seemed to make a miraculous recovery and Anakin smiled to himself. Grace was as devious as she was observant. Obi-Wan would be proud, Anakin mused.

Her question, posed in childish innocence, still managed to shake Anakin out of his semiconscious state. "Daddy, what happened to your arm?"

Anakin was sure he had heard Grace wrong. Blinking sleep out of his eyes, he said "What?"

Grace sat up before repeating herself. "What happened to your arm?"

Frowning internally, Anakin glanced at his right arm. None of the kids knew about his arm. He always kept his mechanical arm covered in the leather gauntlet he had acquired during the war, and, out of habit, Anakin always wore long sleeved shirts. "Why do you think anything happened to it?"

Grace pushed her curly blonde hair away from her face. "It feels different."

That made Anakin sit up. "What?"

Grace's big brown eyes lifted to meet his and Anakin felt her rudimentary Force abilities flutter against first his right arm, then his left. 'Your arms feel different. What happened to that one?" Grace pointed at Anakin's lower right arm.

Her father was quiet for so long that Grace thought Anakin wasn't going to answer her. His 'presence' darkened slightly, which she sensed quite clearly, even though she had only just started learning how to stretch her mind.

When he finally spoke, her father looked like he was a thousand miles away. Or maybe a thousand light years away. "I was young and stupid."

Grace interrupted. "You're not stupid, Daddy!"

Anakin smiled. Grace decided she liked it better when her daddy smiled. "Maybe I'm not stupid now, but I was then. You know I was a Jedi."

Grace nodded. Her daddy was teaching her and her brothers and sister how to be Jedi. He had to be one in order to do that.

"Well, I was still Obi-Wan's padawan at the time-"

Grace interrupted again. "What's a padah… a padawun?"

"Padawan?" Anakin smiled at her attempts to pronounce the word. "It means student."

Grace snuggled close to Anakin, and he wrapped his left arm around her. "It was the first battle of the Clone War, and Obi-Wan, your mother and I were on Geonosis-"

"Geonosis? What's that?"

Anakin chuckled. "It's a desert planet in the Outer Rim Territories. Now, as I was saying-"

"What were you doing there?"

"If you'd stop asking questions, I could tell you." Anakin was chuckling, not at all angry, just playfully exasperated.

"Okay." Grace agreed, through a loud yawn. She rested her pointy little chin on Anakin's leg, and he tried to shift into a more comfortable position.

"Obi-Wan was captured by the Separatists, and your mother and I went to try to rescue him." Anakin smiled at the memory. "But we were captured by a bounty hunter and given to Archduke Poggle the Lesser-"

"Archduke who?"

"Poggle the Lesser. He was the ruler of Geonosis at the time."

"Oh."

"He wanted to make an example of us, so he turned us over to Count Dooku-"

"Who's that?"

"Grace!" Anakin sighed. "How am I going to tell you what happened to my arm if you keep asking questions?"

Grace gave him a slightly sheepish smile. "Oh, right."

"Dooku tried to have us killed, but Master Windu-" Grace looked like she wanted to ask another question, but was visibly restraining herself. "-came with a lot of other Jedi and helped us escape." Anakin paused, trying to decide how to censor the story to Padmé's standards so as not to terrify the six year old. "Obi-Wan and I chased Dooku to his spaceship. Obi-Wan was injured early on in the fight, so I had to duel Dooku by myself-"

"And he cut off your arm." Grace stated it so matter of factly that, for a moment, Anakin forgot how young she was.

Nodding, Anakin said, "Yes. If I had listened to Obi-Wan, it wouldn't have happened."

Grace seemed to study him for a moment, before saying, "You made a mistake. We all make them."

Once again, astounded by Grace's wisdom beyond her years, Anakin shook his head. Ruffling Grace's hair, he said, "You're just like your mother."

Giggling, Grace ducked away from Anakin's hand and said, "Mom said the same thing about you."

Anakin sighed. "Just promise me you'll be careful, okay?"

Grace nodded. "I promise, Daddy."

STAR WARS

**Any good? Let me know what you think!**

**-CommChatter **


	4. Mother's Day

As usual, I don't own Star Wars, and I only own Grace Skywalker.

In this, The twins are ten, Jinn's eight, and Grace is four.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom

STAR WARS

A sliver of light split the darkness of the hall and Luke Skywalker stuck his head out the door of his room. Cautiously looking back and forth, he eased the door to his room open and crept down the hall to Leia's room and tapped on the door. Leia emerged a moment later, rubbing her brown eyes and pulling her long hair back into a tail.

Speaking through their bond, she whispered, _You get Jinn. I'll get Grace._

Nodding his understanding, Luke reached out through his bond to Jinn and prodded his mind to awareness, impressing on him that it was time to wake up. Feeling Jinn's response, he withdrew and looked at Leia. "He's coming."

Leia nodded. "Grace is too."

The objects of their conversation emerged moments later, Jinn rubbing sleep from his eyes and dragging his hands through his already messy hair. Four year old Grace's blonde hair was a rat's nest on her head, her eyes were half open and she was still dazed by sleep.

Luke, the most alert of the group, crept down the hallway to their parents' room and listened to their deep breathing for a moment before waving the other three past him into the living area. Grace staggered and almost fell and Leia grabbed her arm to keep her upright.

"Quiet!" He hissed as Jinn bumped a small table holding a vase full of Nubian lilies, reaching out with the Force to catch it before it hit the ground.

"Sorry!" Jinn apologized, now wide awake as he rushed down the length of the hallway after their sisters, Luke right behind him.

"The droids!" Luke said suddenly. "Turn Threepio off! Quick!"

Leia, closest to Artoo and Threepio, hesitated. "Why? He knows all sorts of recipes, he could help us."

"No he won't! He'll go wake up Mom and Dad!" Jinn said, dashing past his sister and reaching for the power switch on Threepio's neck just as the droid's photoreceptors brightened.

"Mast-" he started, as he saw the young Skywalkers. Jinn cut him off when he flipped the circuit breaker, turning the well-meaning, if clueless, protocol droid off.

Turning to Artoo, Leia brought a finger to her lips. "Not a sound Artoo. It's a surprise for Mom and Dad, okay?"

His volume turned down to the lowest setting, Artoo beeped a quick confirmation and rolled after his young masters, following them into the kitchen.

"What are we going to make?" Luke asked quietly as they gathered in a small circle in the semi-lit kitchen.

"This was your idea. I thought you knew!" Leia said loudly, eliciting a "Shh!" from the other three.

"Hotcakes?" Grace suggested eagerly, all traces of sleepiness gone.

Leia shook her head. "We don't know how to make those."

"How about nuna eggs and toast with caf?" Jinn suggested. "It should be easy enough to make."

Leia nodded slowly, looking at Luke. "We can do that."

"I'll make the caf!" Grace said, bouncing away and dragging a chair over to the counter so she could reach the caf maker, and pulling the pot off the burner before making her way to the sink.

Leia quickly took charge of the cooking. "Jinn get the eggs and blue milk from the cooler unit. Luke, we need a frying pan out. And bread too." When her brothers moved to get what she asked for, Leia turned to Grace, stopping her just before she put the caf grounds into the caf machine without a filter. "Wait Grace!"

The four year old froze, balanced precariously on one foot in her effort to reach the caf maker, one hand suspended over the compartment where the grounds were to go. "I'm doing it right!" She protested.

"You need a filter first." Leia said, pointing at the white flimsi discs next to the canister of grounds.

"Oh. Whoops." Grace said, stretching to reach the filters and inserting one into the compartment.

Satisfied that crisis had been averted, Leia turned back to Luke and Jinn, who had assembled a carton of nuna eggs, a jug of blue milk, and a bag of bread, along with a tub of butter for the toast. "Okay, we need some sort of cooking spray-" Leia picked up the aerosol container and sprayed the bottom of the frying pan. "Luke can you mix the eggs and milk together? Jinn, put the bread in the toaster."

Several minutes later, while Leia was busy with the eggs, Luke dug a tray out of the pantry and assembled forks, plates and mugs. Arranging them on the tray, he carried them over to Leia, who transferred the scrambled blue mess onto the plates.

"Ow!" Jinn dropped the hot toast onto the counter and shook his left hand in an attempt to cool his fingers.

"That's why you should use tongs." Grace informed him primly, offering him a pair of wooden tongs and putting the butter on the counter.

"Yeah, yeah." Jinn muttered under his breath, pulling the toast and butter closer and spreading it out in front of him before getting to work.

"Is it ready?" Leia asked seconds later.

"Yep." Jinn picked up his contribution, buttered toast, slightly blackened around the edges, and put them on the two plates.

Luke and Grace came over, each carrying cups of caf and deposited them on the tray, already loaded with two plates of scrambled eggs and toast, forks, cups of muja juice, and napkins. Studying the tray, "This'll be fun." Luke commented, hovering close to his twin as Leia carefully carried the tray down the hall to their parents' bedroom.

STAR WARS

It was early in the morning. Far earlier than Padmé wanted to wake up on a weekend, and especially on Mother's Day! She had hoped her brood would let her sleep in past six, but, as light flooded the room, Padmé resigned herself to that unlikely hood.

Then Grace jumped up onto the bed. "Happy Mother's Day Mommy!" she chirped.

Next to Padmé, Anakin groaned and rubbed his eyes blearily. "Hi Grace." He levered himself up into a sitting position and ran a hand over his face. "Do I smell caf?"

"Yes." Luke, Leia and Jinn filed in a moment later, Leia carrying a tray with two plates of scrambled nuna eggs and toast, with glasses of muja juice and mugs of caf.

Padmé pushed herself up into a sitting position and accepted the tray from Leia and Anakin eagerly appropriated a mug of caf, taking a quick sip. He froze, and Padmé saw him grimace in disgust, carefully hiding his reaction from the kids.

"Who made the caf?" Anakin asked carefully.

"I did!" Grace said. "Is it good, Daddy?"

"Wonderful." Anakin turned to Padmé and mouthed a warning. _There's grounds in it._

Padmé snorted into her muja juice and came up laughing. She decided that when she was woken up like this, it really didn't matter what time it was.


End file.
